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As lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood considers curbs on jury trials to cut the Crown court backlog, a recruitment competition for the magistrates’ court has been extended to include judges on standby.

The Judicial Appointments Commission launched a competition for 50 deputy district judges in the magistrates’ court on 30 January. However, the recruitment notice was updated on 5 August stating that another 50 vacancies have been added under section 94 of the Constitutional Reform Act.

Section 94 enables the Judicial Appointments Commission to recruit in advance a pool of potential candidates for appointment to a particular class of posts. As requests to fill specific appointments of that class arise, successful candidates can be selected from that pool. However they are not guaranteed selection for actual appointments.

The Gazette asked the ministry if the competition was extended in preparation for recommendations submitted by Sir Brian Leveson to reduce the number of outstanding cases in the Crown court.

Leveson’s proposals would see more cases heard by magistrates instead of a jury. Cases in a new tier of court – to be called the Crown Court Bench Division – would be heard by a judge flanked by two magistrates. The day before the Leveson Review was published, Mahmood told MPs jury trials take five times longer than cases heard in the magistrates’ court.

A spokesperson for the ministry told the Gazette: ‘We know that justice delayed is justice denied, and it is clear that many cases are taking too long to reach trial. That’s why we’re continuing to increase judicial recruitment across all of our courts and are carefully considering Sir Brian Leveson’s bold and ambitious recommendations for reshaping the courts system to tackle delays and speed up justice for victims.’

The ministry forecasts 50 judges being needed when the recruitment round concludes early next year and a further 50 for a 'reserve list'.

According to judicial diversity data, only 5% of judges in the High Court and above are non-barristers whereas the non-barrister proportion among district and deputy district judges ranges from 54% to 64%.

Deputy district judges are currently paid £667.30 in London and £648.70 outside the capital.